She didn't believe in old wives tales
by Desicat674
Summary: Ever since she could remember, she had loved Pokémon. Like many children, she dreamed of becoming a Pokémon Master, though things didn't always go as planned. Join Desiree as she navigates through excitement and heartbreak on her first Pokémon adventure.


_(My first story on this site, I welcome critisiem as long as it is the constructive kind... and the generic disclamer I do not own Pokémon!)_

The world of Pokémon was an interesting one. There were so many diverse types of creatures. They covered the ground, the skies, the seas, everywhere you could think of and you would find some different Pokémon and people that work with them, be it to train them to become Pokémon masters or study them. This world revolved around them. For hundreds of years Pokémon and humans worked side by side to develop the culture they had today.

And today, the day of her tenth birthday, Desiree couldn't wait for the start of her adventure. She wondered what Pokémon she would choose for her first partner as she got dressed and ready. Would she go with a fire type like Cyndaquil? They were fierce but temperamental for a starting trainer. Grass types were naturally the best for starting trainers, as they had a tendency towards loyalty and protectiveness, as far as Bulbasaurs were concerned. Or a water type like Mudkip, which was known for its playful attitude.

It was the only thing running on her brain as she rushed down the stairs to leave the house. Her mother calling out to her not to run in the rain, it was bad luck. An old wives tale. Her mother was full of them, always spewing one whenever you turned the corner, her little brother mimicking the warning behind her. She didn't believe in the superstitious things her mother did, but she gave a half-hearted "Yes, I know," and waited until she round a corner before taking off again.

Family life was a relatively normal one. Her father was a Pokémon breeder, mostly breeding Ghost type Pokémon interestingly enough. She couldn't walk ten feet in her own home without running into one - or through one. Normally Ghost types tended to scare some people. Desiree on the other hand was use to them and their natures. Her mother ran a Pokémon nursery and dealt with all kinds of Pokémon, and she really liked helping her mother out until it was time to go on her own journey and start her life. Her elder sister was Pokémon coordinator. She'd won many awards with her Gengar and Banette, both of whom were bred from her father's work. It brought a lot of attention to the family in that regard, so her father was never out of work.

It rained a lot in Bankai; almost all year round, save for when it snowed. Most places had excessive rain given the time of year, aptly called 'rainy season', but Bankai was different. It was mountainous in the north where the snow never melted and in the valley it was nothing but forests and an abundance of lakes, which brought a lot of water Pokémon. A local rumour claimed that the excessive amount of water Pokémon in one central area caused the rain, and while some researchers back this theory, others dismiss it as an old wives tale. Either way, it didn't really matter. Not to Desiree, anyway. She didn't believe in wives tales.

_It was irony's truest form_, she thought to herself as the rain fell on her face. The angle her neck was on a discarded brick forcing her to look up to the sky a pile of heavy support beams laying on top of her little body. Every inch of her body was either numb or roaring in pain, and her vision was blurry. The words of her mother echoed in her head over and over.

_She didn't believe in wives tales…_

She had cut through a construction site of a new Pokémart that was coming to her city of Vinetown on her way to the Pokémon Center, ignoring the warnings her mom had given her, and even the ones on the fence telling her of danger. She had brushed it off like most warnings. She was too headstrong, too confident, with a 'what's the worst that can happen' carefree attitude.

But even still, she just had a little accident, right? What's the worst that could happen...?

She was staring out the window again, her favourite pastime these days. Staring out into the nothingness, or what it looked like because of the downpour. Winter had just past, in fact a little over six months had just passed since she was laying in a hospital bed with a doctor telling her how bad off she was.

"Don't cry, children go through worse and survive worse. I'm sure if you keep up with rehabilitation you'll be able to walk again one day."

She understood he had been trying to cheer her up give her back her confident attitude, but being told your dreams are just that crushed her. It made her into a hollow shell.

Not at first of course, she went to rehab every other day, and it was hard and hurt so much she was in tears half of the time, but she kept saying to anyone who would listen, "I can do this, when I'm healthy again I'll become a great Pokémon trainer, the best in fact, just you watch me!"

The rehab instructor would high-five her and cheer her on but her medical doctor would just smile awkwardly.

Eventually after a few months with very little progress with her legs he told her the likelihood of her walking again was slim, but not to give up hope of it. However, even if she could walk, she would need aid of some form so going on a journey around to catch Pokémon and to train wasn't the best option for her. In a few years it was possible she could find someone that would be willing to drive her from gym to gym, but even then it might be too stressful.

That was enough to snap the last of her strength and willpower. She barely left her room anymore and just stared out of the window. Her depression was evident, if not by looking at her but by the ghost Pokémon that would feed off of it.

Days seem to bleed together after a while. Most of her injuries were healed except for her legs which had been crushed by support beams. She could move them, but it hurt, and she could not put weight on them at all.

One day the house felt too claustrophobic for Desiree. Her parents were out shopping - feeding all the Pokémon in the house was a large event so getting the food would take some time - so the young girl decided she'd go out and get air.

She rolled her wheelchair down the road, passing a few shops, ignoring people's wayward glances and gritting her teeth.

She really wasn't allowed outside without telling her parents. They changed a bit after her accident, fussing over her constantly. It got suffocating to the point that she would yell at them or throw things at them, yelling she was fine, but everyone knew she wasn't, including her.

The buildings thinned out as she left town. She had particular destination in mind, save for the fact that she just needed to keep going, as far as she could. She scolded herself on why she was trying to run away, in a wheelchair no less. She was useless and helpless, a burden on everyone around her and she wished one of the support beams had fallen on her head and killed her_. It would have been better for everyone. _

She wiped tears from her face as she slowly rolled to a stop, where she sat and sobbed for a good while.

There was no rain at the moment, which she was grateful for. She really didn't need it at the moment - it would only make her feel more miserable than she already did. She took some deep breaths and hiccupped before catching a sound in the distance.

It was weak but it was a voice. Her curiosity getting the better of her she tentatively unlatched the brakes and rolled towards it. At the edge of the road, down a steep ditch, she heard the sound again.

Getting as close to the edge as she dared, she leaned forward and looked down. There she saw it, red to what should have been green...blood, it was covered in it. It was a Scyther. She pulled back her wheelchair only to hear a crunching sound. Looking down, she saw the remains of an already broken Pokéball.

_Did…did its trainer leave it here to die?_ It certainly wasn't wild. She had read up on Scythers a while ago. She did a lot of reading. There wasn't much else to do when bound to a chair.

The books had said there were no Scythers in Bankai – it was too cold a climate. While it wasn't freezing, it was colder than the habitat they preferred. Besides, if it was wild, it would stay in a group of at least four. If it was wild, there would be others by its side, helping it or staying with it until it died. They were loyal to their own.

She quickly looked around for more of its kind. There was none, nor any humans for at least a few miles. _How far have I gone?_

She wondered what she should do in this situation. If she weren't useless, she'd go down and carry it to the Pokémon Center. She could try, but the hill was steep. It would take her a long time, and she didn't know how much longer it could hold out without help.

"Hang on!" she called to it. It moved its head slowly, looking at her. "H-hold on! I'll figure something out," she stuttered, looking for an easier way down.

There was a weak cry, and its head collapsed. This sent her senses into overdrive, and panic set in. She found a smoother section that she might be able to roll down, so she pushed herself into the damp grass.

It was difficult wheeling around in it. Her wheels got stuck in the mud several times before she got to the edge of the ditch. "Okay...okay. I'll slide off my chair and down the grass like a slide, yeah that could work, then I'll grab it and pull us up, that should be no problem, right?" She went to slide out of the chair, but a bit of damp earth gave way and her chair went crashing down.

It hurt, a lot. The pain from falling shot up her legs and writhed through her lower spine. It had just started to rain again, and the ground quickly transformed into mud and water, coating her forearms as she tried to pull herself free. She struggled to stay upright, her wheelchair on its side behind her, sinking in the mud.

_At least I made it down here alive, I guess_. A faint cry reminded her of why she was there in the first place. Without the use of her legs, she had to crawl with her arms to reach the Scyther.

It felt like it took hours. The stress was unbelievably hard on her body, but she made it to its side – _his_, given the size of its smaller abdomen.

Half of his head was submerged in muddy water, which was now starting to rise slowly from the heavy rain. She was starting to hate this country.

She pulled herself into a sitting position. Grabbing the Scyther by the shoulders, she tried to heave it on top of her body. After the third attempt, she was able to drag his torso onto her legs.

She rolled him onto his back. Wiping the mud away with the sleeve of her sweater, she was able to feel his slow, weak breath on her arm. He was covered in blood from deep lacerations along his eye and body. The wounds were jagged, unlike others of its kind or from a Pokémon. It almost looked like it was from the back of a hammer, the ones used to pull nails.

This upset the young girl and infuriated her at the same time. She undid the buttons of her sweater and slowly ripped off ribbons of cloth, which she used as makeshift bandages.

It didn't take long to bandage up at first, but then he woke up. As weak as he was, he was not pleased to be touched. He started to wiggle from her grasp and slash at her with his sharp, bladed arms. She grabbed them and pinned him down, all the while trying to calm him with generic words until she eventually just yelled at him. "If you keep moving you're going to die! I'm trying to keep you alive here!"

That seemed to sink in. He stopped trying to move and stared at her with his good eye. The look unsettled her – there was so much _hate_.

Her stomach plummeted and she felt like throwing up. It wasn't her he hated; it was the fact she was human. A human had done this to him. There were no other theories to be had. That one look cemented the idea that was forming in her mind, and it hurt her so much to believe a human could do this to a Pokémon.

Swallowing her emotions, she bit back the bile and put what was left of the cloth on his eye to stop the bleeding.

"It's okay…it's okay…" She mindlessly started rubbing his chest, trying to reassure him, or herself.

It didn't take her long to realise that there was no way she would be able to pull him towards the wheelchair. It was even less likely that she could pull both them and the wheelchair up the slope. She really should have thought this one through.

The sun began to set, and it was dark before anyone found her. It was a search party of her parents and neighbours, calling for her. When they reached her, the water was up to her waist and she was holding the Scyther to her chest, her voice hoarse from yelling for hours.

The Pokémon held onto life from sheer will. It didn't take the men long to pull both of them out. Her parents showed up shortly after. They kept saying to take her to the doctors, but she screamed and screamed to take the Pokémon to the Pokémon Center. She didn't let go of the Scyther, and eventually, they were forced to agree.

Once they were at the Pokémon Center she refused to go to the hospital herself. She told the Nurse there what had happened and about the human, and said she would not leave his side until he was okay.

"If you want me to get checked out, you'd damn well better bring a doctor here, 'cause I aint moving. Bite me!"

Two weeks after the incident found Desiree at the Pokémon Center. She had gone there every day since, visiting the Scyther. Her parents wanted to keep her in the house, but they were finally seeing some of her old spirit come back. She was going outside every day now.

Scyther had been unconscious for the first two days and then too groggy to do anything for a while after that. It soon became apparent that the level of abuse that he had suffered was more than just physical. He didn't just become hostile towards the humans trying to heal him; he was downright violent.

The only one able to get close to him was her, and that invitation was only so long as she stayed on the other side of the room. The Chanseys could come in and out just fine, but if the Nurse came in he'd go for her head.

It didn't take Desiree long to ask about it. The nurse just closed her eyes and sighed for a moment before looking at her sadly.

"It's a sad sight to see people abuse their Pokémon. Neglect or using them as tools is bad enough, but to abuse them like that…" she shook her head. "It must have been through a lot to have gotten to this stage. It's a shame, because at the hostility level he is at, if we can't calm him down, we can't rehabilitate him to get him adopted."

"Can't you release him then?" asked Desiree, worried for the fate of this Pokémon she felt so much for.

The Nurse shook her head again. "When the aggression is this high, he would probably go looking for people to hurt, out of revenge for what was done to him."

She was quiet for a moment. "Can't the Pokémon rehab people help him? That's what they do, right? Work with abused and neglected Pokémon?"

"None of the rehabilitation specialists will work with him. Their words don't get through to him at all. He's just…"

"What will happen to him?" She was afraid to ask because deep down she knew the answer.

"Unfortunately my dear…if a Pokémon can't be rehabilitated for adoption, and is a danger to humans at that level…" She sighed. "We might have to put him to sleep."

Desiree's next question got stuck in her throat and she couldn't force it out. Her arms started to shake as she squeezed the life out of the wheelchair arms. Nodding, she excused herself. She had her own rehabilitation specialist to see.

That day, she worked harder than ever, holding onto the beams and trying to walk; focusing the rage she felt into pure drive. Her coach cheered her on in the background.

She wasn't mad at the nurse. She understood that you couldn't let a dangerous Pokémon out if it wanted to hurt people, but she didn't want them to give up on him. He wasn't just some angry mindless thing! He could get better; otherwise he would have attacked her when she visited him! He could get better! Then it hit her.

Scyther was like her. When she became bound to a wheelchair, everyone told her to give up her dreams of being a Pokémon trainer. _You can't do this anymore, or that, or that…_ It was always the same thing.

But everyone always encouraged her to do her rehab; told her that it would help her walk again. No one ever gave up on her, even if she gave up on herself. _I won't let them give up on him!_

She would support him, and she would help him! If he hated the world right now then fine, but eventually he would get better, and she would do the same for him! Even if he yelled, even if he got angry at everyone around him, she would be there for him, because he needed someone.

After she was done for the day, she wheeled her way to the Pokémon Center and approached the Nurse, newfound determination in her eyes. "I'll rehabilitate him."

The Nurse blinked. "Pardon me?"

"I'll be his rehabilitation specialist," said Desiree.

The Nurse just stared at her for a moment.

"I don't know what I'm doing, but I know he's not a monster. I know he can get better, because…look at me." The Nurse frowned in confusion.

"I'm not dead," she continued. "He lets me in the room without attacking me….its small and insignificant but like my own rehabilitation coach says, baby steps. It will take time but I can do it, we both can if you give us a chance. Please…" She pleased desperately with the woman.

"It's dangerous –"

She had never listened to warnings before. Taking heed now would be a good idea, but now wasn't the time. "No one has given up on me, no matter how many times I yell, or get angry…they just keep pushing me and supporting me, no matter how long it takes. Isn't that what you're supposed to do?"

The Nurse bent down and put her hand on Desiree's shoulder. "There's a difference, dear. You are human, and he…well, he isn't."

"I know, and it doesn't matter. If we give up on him just like that we are no better than his trainer who hurt him and left him to die!" Her eyes started to water. She wiped her face in frustration. "Please let me try…"

The Nurse sighed. "Alright, alright. But if you're going to work with him, there are some guides you'll have to read, and you'll have to take a written test to become a registered Pokémon rehabilitation field worker. You'll also have to sign a form stating that if a Pokémon hurts or kills you we take no responsibility for lawsuit claims. Are we clear?"

Desiree nodded, smiling.

"Good. He won't be fully mobile for at least another two weeks with the slow healing process we have had to implement, so you have that time to study up."

For two weeks, that was exactly what she did. Her rehabilitation coach was a great help during that time. It wasn't the same kind of rehabilitation – she was going to be working with the Scyther's mental and emotional injuries instead of coping with a disability – but her coach was able to provide lots of advice all the same.

Her parents were pleased that she was finding a new passion in life other than Pokémon training. She didn't tell them that her dreams were far from dead, but in that moment, it didn't really matter. Scyther did. And she was taking all the help she could get; working and studying harder than she ever had in her life.

It wasn't a surprise, then, that when the test results finally came, she passed. Barely, but she passed.

However, the theory of working with Scyther was a lot easier than the practice. It took days of just talking to him while he ignored her before she could get close to him. Each day, she could wheel inch by excruciating inch further. Any time he felt confined by her and got aggressive, she would quickly remind him that he was in control of the situation, that she was bound to a chair and he could hurt her or kill her if he wished to and she could do nothing to him.

Strangely, this strategy of playing the weaker role seemed to calm his ire. He would just turn his back and stare out the window of his room.

This continued in much the same way, until one cloudy day, he spoke. "Ssshy sre sssssou…ssoing…sssis?" (Why are you doing this?)

Her jaw dropped and she blinked at him in awe. _Did he just talk?_

His voice was heavily accented, but they were human words. It wasn't unheard of for some Pokémon to speak – ghosts and psychic Pokémon were the most common –but a Scyther?

She shook her head and told him the same thing she told the Nurse.

"Because you're hurt, on the inside…and you're so angry that you don't know what to do. You just lash out at everyone around you."

This didn't get the reaction she wanted. He turned to her aggressively, hitting her chair with his arm in warning. The metal sparked. "Ssssut so sou sssow sssaout see!" (What do you know about me!) he said thickly.

Giving him a moment, she responded calmly. "I know that your previous trainer did horrible things to you. I know that they don't deserve the air they breathe, and I know that you need to calm down, because attacking everyone around you won't fix anything. We're trying to help you. I understan –"

Without warning, he tackled her, pushing her off the chair. His arms slashed wildly around her, slicing her chair and leaving dark cuts in the ground. "Sssou sssumansss sre sssonsssterssss, ssssisssousssly sssinnngs ssusss sssannnd sssssurrrt sssusss!" (You humans are monsters, viscously using us and hurting us!)

She cowered away from him, covering her head with her arms. "Look at what you're doing, Scyther! If you keep this up, you'll be no better than the person who did this to you!"

That got his attention. His blade held still.

"Everyone here just wants to help you, Scyther, but you attack them and me over and over again. No one can let you go because you're a danger to everyone around you! Do you understand?" Slowly, she lowered her arms and looked up at him. "Doing this is going to make everything worse."

He backed up a little, conflicting emotions crossing his eyes.

"I'm not saying everything will be easy or that you have to forgive what was done to you," she said gently. "I know I couldn't." She crawled to her wheelchair and set it up right before trying to pull herself back into it. It was hard being able to move her legs but not being able to support herself with them.

"If you let me help you, even just a little, then you can make it so that what your former trainer did to you won't destroy you. You're stronger than them. They may have hurt you a little, but you will not let some pathetic human be the cause of your downfall."

Then Scyther did something unexpected. Using the side of his arms to hold her, he picked her up and placed her in the chair, almost gently. She looked him in the eyes curiously. He was staring back intently. "Sssow?" (How?)

She smiled a little. Despite the earlier violence, this was a huge breakthrough. "Well, as my coach says, baby steps. It's not gonna be easy, but we'll get there. First, let's do something different."

He tilted his head and she elaborated. "Let's give you a name, a proper one. It'll be the start of a new you, a new Scyther. You're free from the person who hurt you now, so start over."

"Sssa sssame? sssike sssut?" (A name? like what?)

She put her hand on her chin. "How about…Seth?"

"Sseth..." he nodded in approval.

After that, it became easier to talk with him, though he still had some bad days where he didn't even want to be in the same room with her.

Despite his indifference and even down right dislike of her, he seemed to let her get close to him. It took him a long time, but eventually he even started letting the Nurse examine him, so long as Desiree was beside him in the room.

Every time the Nurse touched him, he would get tense with fear, but the younger girl would just put her hand on him and he seemed to calm down, just a little bit, only to hit her in the head after and ignore her for the rest of the day. It was obvious he didn't like showing weakness, even to her, but she could understand that – probably more than most – so she didn't begrudge him for it.

It didn't take long before he started wanting to go outside, tired of being confined to the Pokémon Center. When she asked about it, the Nurse told her that while he had been making excellent progress, he would need to be captured before leaving – and Desiree, as his worker, would have to do it.

Of course, that went over just swimmingly with her volatile partner. He agreed eventually, reluctantly, after hours talking and explaining it to him. She quickly realised how much he hated being confined in a Pokéball, but she was fine with leaving him out so long as he behaved.

By the time she turned eleven, she had found out some of what happened to him, as well as who did it. Scyther only gave bits and pieces, but it was enough for her to fill in the blanks.

Scyther's last owner was Blake Florn, a middle-aged man who had worked for Team Rocket for a while. Apparently, he'd been kicked out some time ago – his methods were too extreme, even for them.

Florn had drunk a lot, and was a full-fledged idiot by anyone's standards if you asked her. He had abused Seth in ways she couldn't even imagine, all because he wouldn't evolve. Predictably, Florn was to blame for that as well – he had never bothered to look up how Scythers evolved in the first place.

Seth had gone through years of abuse simply because the man was an incompetent moron, and it made her angry beyond belief. The moment she knew the name, she had taken it to the Nurse, who in turn took it to the police. She could only hope the man was made to pay for what he had done.

"Do you even want to evolve?" They were on the grass; Scyther resting beneath a tree while she stretched her legs. The sun was bright in the sky, and there was not a cloud to be seen for once. She refused to let the good weather go to waste, and so she had taken her daily exercises outside.

"I mean, Scizor's have always been my favourite Pokémon," she said. His body tensed, and she hastily continued, "But I mean, that's just my opinion. I don't think a trainer has any right to evolve a Pokémon if it doesn't want to…and I can understand why you wouldn't."

Thankfully, he seemed to let her mistake go. "SssI sssink sssi'd sssant sssto," he nodded. "Sssit ssssould sssee ssssamusssing ssso sssurt sssim ssin sssat sssorm." (I think I'd want to. It would be amusing to hurt him in that form.)

A smirk flashed briefly on his face before it fell to a frown. "Ssssut sssi sssont sssnow ssssow." (But I don't know how.)

"I do. It's simple, really. We could do it in the future, if you'd like, and it wouldn't hurt you at all."

"Ssseally?" (Really?)

"Yep. We can trade you at the Pokémon Center so you can evolve. The Nurses are always willing to help. You have to be holding a Metal Coat, though. That's the hard part." She finished her stretches, he was leaning against the tree. "We don't get Scythers in this region, so Metal Coats are hard to come by," she sighed. "But you let me figure that one out. Once we have a Metal Coat, you can evolve, but only if you want to. You just think about it."

He simply nodded. She knew him well enough by now to see the gesture for what it was – he was grateful.

_Hard to find? Try damn near impossible! _It had been a few months since their conversation about his potential evolution, and since then she had been to every store in town looking for a Metal Coat. She'd asked her parents and everyone she could think of, and the only ones she could find were so expensive, she'd be able to afford a house first.

"Don't push too hard, just go slow!" Her coach shouted in the background as she took little steps. Rehabilitation was difficult for her, too. Because she was pushing Seth so hard, she was pushing herself equally hard as a result, and slowly, very slowly, it was paying off: as long as she had something to hold onto, she could walk.

With forearm crutches and leg braces, she could walk without any other support, but it didn't take long before she was too tired to continue and had to return to her wheelchair. She didn't let it get her down – she could _walk_, and that was brilliant by itself.

With the amount of effort she was pouring in, it took only a few more months before she could spend most the day just using the forearm crutches. The doctor said one of her legs was healing faster than the other, so she only needed a full leg brace on one and a knee brace on the other. After so long confined to a wheelchair, everything finally seemed to be working out – and better yet, her sister had obtained a Metal Coat through some contest in Hoenn.

She had taken it to Seth as soon as it arrived, bursting with excitement. He was nervous, of course, but after a long while he made up his mind – he would evolve.

The trade went smoothly, and as soon as it was done, she released him from the Pokéball as a shiny red Scizor.

He was beautiful, she decided at once. Taller, too – he was a good six feet now. The look on his face as he examined himself made her feel warm and happy, and she wore a bright smile for the rest of the day.

She absolutely adored Seth, even if he was horribly mean to her half the time. That only made it harder when she was told she could release him back into the wild.

All that work had paid off. He still didn't like people in the slightest, but he no longer had the inclination to attack them – he could be gone within the hour if he wanted to, and she would probably never see him again if he did.

Despite her fears, she did what she knew she had to. She was sombre when she walked into his room that evening.

He must have figured out something was wrong because his eyes narrowed and he crossed his claws over his chest. "Sssut?" (What?)

She fiddled with the front of her shirt and stared at the ground, unable to meet his gaze. At length, she looked up and sighed. "I was given some news today. You've done so well Seth, so the Nurse told me you have two options."

He nodded for her to continue.

She figured she'd rip off the bandage quickly. "Rehabilitation is done, or as done as it will be, so…here it is. You're free."

He took a step back, his arms dropping in surprise. "Sssut sso sssou sssean?"(What do you mean?)

"The Nurse will transfer you to a Pokémon Center in Sinnoh, where you will get released into the wild."

She'd assumed he would want to be free, far away from people, but the look on his face was anything but relief – it was betrayal and heartbreak.

"Ssssou sssould sseeve ssse? Sssiss siss ssut souss sssseant sssy ssseamworkss? (You would leave me? Is this what you meant by teamwork?)

His voice cracked and he wasn't able to continue in English, but she could get what he was talking about. He was frustrated and upset unable to think properly. She reached out to try and calm him down. "Seth, Seth it's alright…"

He went to push her away from him, but he underestimated his strength and knocked her down. "_Ssow ssis sssiss ssalrightss?!_"(How is this alright?!)

She stumbled back unsteadily, but he caught her before she fell. Despite his anger, he'd started to get more careful when it came to her legs. Though his grip on her arm was strong, he was shaking. "Sssou sson't ssont ssse ssanymoress?" (You don't want me anymore?) He searched her eyes with desperation.

She pulled him in and hugged him, ignoring the pain in her arm. "If you'd let me finish, the second option was that I officially adopt you and you become my Pokémon." After a few moments of silence he let go of her arm and hugged her tight. It was obvious which one he had chosen.

Sadly for her, that would be one of the very few times he would show that level of affection again.

Having her first Pokémon felt amazing. Once they had left the Pokémon Center, he went with her everywhere. He hated the Pokéball, but what could one do.

Her rehabilitation was a funny sight with him around. Whenever she cried out in pain while doing something difficult only for her coach to push her on, Seth got very mad.

It took her a while to convince him that the coach wasn't trying to hurt her; that it was actually good for her, but he finally 'allowed' it to continue. It was weird how overprotective he could be when she was weak, especially since he would normally tell her to get bent, but she loved his character all the same.

His presence alone was enough to really motivate her, and by her twelfth birthday she was practically walking without aid, save for a knee brace on one leg and a noticeable limp. The doctor told her that would fade in time until it was hardly noticeable.

When the time came to tell her parents she was going to be a Pokémon trainer, she had the counter to every possible argument they could throw at her – she had an amazing partner, and after going through so much, she would be okay.

She'd had to promise to come home if it was too difficult, but she knew it wouldn't be. She was beyond ready.

It was raining when she left for her Pokémon adventure. This time, when her mother shouted for her to slow down and not to run in the rain, she listened. Still, she didn't believe in old wives tales.

_( Hope you have enjoyed it! Leave a comment for cheesecake!)_


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